Brush



BRUS H Filed May 13, 1942 (Jan-1141 1.

Patented May 25, 1943 UNITED STATES aims-i orrlcs BRUSH J. Warren Bate,Rockford, 111.

Application May 13, 1942, Serial No. 442,819 4 Claims. (01. 15-206) Thisinvention relates to brushes of the twisted-in-wire type.

The raw ends of the twisted wire core have presented a problem. Where itwas desired to provide a handle eye on one end, it was customaryheretofore to form this eye as a closed loop on one end of the core,thus giving an objectionable sharp end on the core at the end of thebrush where the end of the wire core was trimmed oif. In a brushintended for use in cleaning gun barrels such a sharp end is highlyobjectionable because of the likelihood of scratching the bore.Typewriter brushes have for a long time been made with rubber tips covering the sharp end on the core.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a brush of thetwisted-in-wire type made with the tip end of the brush finished smoothand a handle eye formed in the other end in such a way that there are noobjectionable sharp ends of the wire left exposed.

Another object consists in providing a brush of the twisted-in-wire typemade with the tip endof the brush finished smooth and a screw driver bitformed on the other end at right arr-V gles to the handle shank portionand in such a way that there are no objectionable sharp ends of the wireleft exposed.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which-Figure 1 is a side View of a cleaning brush made in accordance with myinvention;

Fig. 2 is a view of the wire core blank used in the making of the brushshown in Fig, l;

Fig. 3 is a side view of another cleaning brush made in accordance withmy invention;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the screw driver bit end, and

Fig. 5 is an end view of the brush on the same scale as Fig. 4.

Similar reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts. I I

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the brush shown has a one-piecetwisted wire core 6 made from a blank like that shown at B in Fig. 2,the bristles I being inserted in the throat 8 of the blank and securedin place by the twisting of the wire in the usual way. However, inaccordance with my invention the wire for the blank B is bent uponitself, as indicated at 9, to form the throat 8 and the bristles areentered up to the'bend 9 preliminary to the twisting operation, wherebyto provide a smooth tip I!) on the brush instead of the objectionablesharp end usually provided in the past. A handle eye II is provided onthe other end of the core 6 in such a way that neither of the endportions l2 and I3 of the wire blank B presents an exposed sharp end.The end portion I2 is disposed between the short straight portions l4and I5 provided next to the loop [6 from which the handle eye II isformed. In the finished brush the cut end I2 is enclosed in the crotchportion connecting the eye I! with the end of the handle shank and itcannot possibly come in contact with the operators finger inserted inthe eye H for manipulation of the brush. In twisting the blank B, it isheld in chucks at the points indicated by the lines ab and (3-12 in Fig.2. After the twisted core 6 is formed, the end portion l3, which in theblank B is nearly at right angles to the straight portion l5, asindicated in Fig. 2, is wrapped around theportions l2 and M, asindicated at H in Fig. 1, as a final step after the twisting operationwhile the core 6 is still held at its opposite ends in chucks. Theposition of a finger is indicated in dotted lines at F in the handle eyeH, to show that in the operation of the brush there is no likelihoodwhatsoever of either of the cut ends of the wire coming in contact withthe finger.

In the operation of this brush, as, for example, in cleaning a gunbarrel, the smooth end !0 obviates the likelihood of scratching thebore, A similar construction as applied to a typewriter brush obviatesthe necessity for providing rubber tips to cover the sharp end, the endl0 being smooth enough to avoid likelihood of scratching or I'narringany typewriter parts. The smooth finished end is, of course, of more orless advantage in brushes of all kinds. The fact that a handle eye isprovided as a part of the core without leaving either of the cut ends ofthe wire exposed is of great advantage, because it saves the expense ofproviding a separate handle and, for most purposes, the eye end ispreferred because it affords aconvenient means for hanging up the brush,whereas a wooden handle applied to the core would require the attachmentof a hook or eye for that purpose. Then, too, the integral handle eye isof distinct advantage from the standpoint of its strength anddurability, whereas a wooden handle applied with a press fit is alwaysapt to get loose or crack.

The smaller brush shown in Figs. 3 to 5 is one intended for use as acleaning brush for electric razors. This brush is of the twisted-in-wiretype and has a twisted core 6' in which the bristles l are secured inthe twisting of the wire. At

H3 is indicated the smooth finished tip end of the brush, which is ofdistinct advantage in a cleaning brush of this kind because iteliminates the danger of scratching the finely machined parts of therazor. l8 designates the right angled end which serves the doublepurpose of a handle and screw driver, the tip l9 being flattened betweendies to serve as a screw driver bit. The end portion I8 is formed in agenerally similar manner as the handle eye end on the other brush, l2designating the one end of the wire of the core 6', which is disposedbetween the portions [4' and I5 of the other end which are bent intoparallelism, and I1 designating the extreme end portion which is wrappedaround the portions l2 and I4, similarly as in the other construction.In other words, the endportion I8 is formed by a closed eye portion IIinstead of an open eye portion like the portion ll first described. Thebend at 20 is not made until the brush is otherwise completed, so thatthis brush can be made substantially the same way as the other. Theswedging of the end l9 can be taken care of either before or after thebending operation.

In operation, the end 18 is used as a handle in the use of the brush forcleaning. On the other hand, when the screw driver bit I9 is to be usedfor tightening ,or loosening a screw on the razor, the handle shank 6 ofthe brush serves as a handle for the screw driver.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding ofthe objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claims havebeen drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. A brush as herein described, comprising a single continuous wire bentupon itself to provide an elongated core adapted to hold bristlestherein adjacent the bend, bristles for said brush, the core beingtwisted to retain the bristles and form a brush head portion in whichthe bristles project radially from the core, the aforesaid bend forminga smooth finished tip on the end of the brush head portion, the corebeing twisted further to form a handle shank portion, one of the endportions of said wire terminating at the outer end of the twisted handleshank, the other end portion of said wire extending from the outer endof said shank and being formed to define a 100p and extending back tosaid shank, said loop lying substantially in the longitudinal plane ofthe core and being of a diameter to freely receive a human finger formanual operation of the brush, said other end portion of said wire alsodefining a crotch portion connecting the finger receiving loop with theouter end of said shank and spacing the loop proper from the outer endof said shank, the free end of said other end portion being woundtightly around the outer end portion of said shank in a direction awayfrom the loop toward the brush head portion, said first end portionbeing enclosed in said crotch portion and terminating so that theextremity is spaced in relation to a finger disposed in said loop formanual operation of the brush.

2. A brush as herein described, comprising a single continuous wire bentupon itself to provide an elongated core adapted to hold bristlestherein adjacent the bend, bristles for said brush, the core beingtwistedto retain the bristles and form a brush head portion in which thebristles project radially from the core, the aforesaid bend forming asmooth finished tip on the end of the brush head portion, the core beingtwisted .further to form a handle shank portion, one of the end portionsof said wire terminating at the outer end of the twisted handle shank,the other end portion of said wire extending alone from the outer end ofsaid twisted handle shank to form a smooth handle portion in which thewire is bent to extend back to the outer end of said shank, the free endof said other end portion being wound tightly around the outer endportion of said shank in a direction toward the brush head portion toenclose the first mentioned end portion.

3. A brush as herein described, comprising .a single continuous wirebent upon itself to provide an elongated core adapted to hold bristlestherein adjacent the bend, bristles for said brush, the core beingtwisted to retain the bristles and form a brush head portion in whichthe bristles project radially from the core, the aforesaid bend forminga smooth finished tip on the end of the brush head portion, the corebeing twisted further to form a handle shank portion, one of the endportions of said wire terminating at the outer end of the twisted handleshank, the other end portion of said wire extending alone from the outerend of said twisted handle shank to form a smooth handle portion inwhich the wire is bent to extend back to the outer end of said shank,the free end of said other end portion being wound tightly around theouter end portion of said shank in a direction toward the brush headportion to enclose the first mentioned end portion, the said shankportion being bent substantially at right angles near the outer endportion thereof, substantially as and for the purpose described.

4. As an article of manufacture, a wire blank for a twisted wire brushformed from a single piece of wire bent upon itself to provide a coreportion that is adapted to be twisted and hold bristles therein, the oneend portion of the wire extending beyond the other end portion and beingformed to provide a loop substantially in the longitudinal plane of thecore portion, the free end of the looped portion extending to a junctionpoint alongside the other end portion and being bent substantially atright angles to said other end portion but so as to lie substantially inthe plane of the core portion and loop portion.

J. WARREN BATE.

